Lupin's Worst Memory
by Krissyy
Summary: Lupin is forced to stand up to his friends about Snape.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is supposed to take place right after Snape's Worst Memory, if you couldn't figure that out. =]

**Chapter One**

Remus Lupin trudged through the Gryffindor common room, heading for the boys' dormitories staircase. That afternoon's events swam through his head – sitting by the lake, peacefully, too, until Snivellus came along. And then James had to hex him, as always. It was funny at first, but sometimes things just got out of hand.

The other Marauders were still downstairs in the Great Hall, boasting about their performance at the lake. But Remus had slipped away from the crowd to escape to his dormitory and get some studying in, since he obviously hadn't earlier today.

"You!"

Remus stopped, having just reached the bottom of the stairs, to turn around. Surprisingly, he found the speaker was talking to him.

"Lily!" he said brightly. "Um… hi." But she did not return his smile.

Taking a step closer, she screeched, "You loathsome little _prat_!" jabbing his chest on the last word.

Remus was taken aback. "W-what?"

"Why didn't you stop them?" she cried, her face glowing red. Lupin glanced over Lily's shoulder to survey the common room. It appeared that only first- and second-years were present, but each and every one of them was watching the superior fifth-years with great interest.

"Who, now?" he asked, adjusting the book bag on his shoulder.

"You know who!" bawled Lily, and she turned around and paced back into the center of the common room.

Remus followed her nervously, and she whipped back around.

"Potter!" she said. "And-and Black and Pettigrew. Why didn't you _stop_ them? Why don't you _ever_ stop them? They're so horrible. Mostly Potter, but Black is always his right-hand man and little Peter acts like they're the greatest wizards alive and-and it just makes me _sick_," she spat.

Remus' gaze was fixed on the fireplace.

"So why," she breathed in slowly, "don't you stop them?"

Remus brought his hand to the scars on his face absentmindedly. "They're my friends."

"I thought I was your friend, too!"

Snapping out of his trance, Lupin spoke again. "You are, Lily." He sighed. "It's just that teasing Sniv- er, Severus has been our little joke for the past five years and they'd think I was crazy if I suggested we stop."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, I think you're all crazy for doing it in the first place."

"It's not my idea." He shrugged.

"But you could make them stop," she said eagerly. "They would listen to you! Merlin knows you're the only sane one in that little gang of yours."

"Why do you even care about Snape?" Lupin asked flamboyantly.

"He's my friend! We were best friends, Remus, and now I'm the only real one he's got."

"And yet he called you a- a-" he hesitated.

"A Mudblood. Yes, I know. But that doesn't mean I don't care about him still. And so… if you could just talk to James-"

Remus shook his head. "That's not going to work." He paused. "But I've got idea that I think might."

"What?"

He hesitated. "Well… I'm not quite sure you'll like it. But if you, er, made a deal with James. That if he stopped being mean to Snivel- Severus… you would go out with him." He braced himself.

"That is _ridiculous_! Why would I _ever_ agree to that? You know very well I hate the boy."

"Just a suggestion."

"I still say you can talk them out of it."

"No, Lily! You don't understand. It's not just friendship, we're like brothers. If they ever thought I was on Snape's side and I lost them, I don't know what I'd do. You don't understand…"

"I think I understand pretty well," argued the girl. "You think no one notices when you all sneak out of the castle during the _full moon_? Severus has had a theory about you lot for a while, and I'm starting to believe it."

Remus gulped. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, knowing very well that he was a horrible liar.

She rolled her eyes. "You do too. Werew-"

Frantically, Lupin leaped forward and threw his hand over her mouth. "Lily, don't!" he pleaded, glancing over at the younger Gryffindors, a few of whom were still watching them intently.

"You know what?" she said hysterically, prying off his hand. "I think I will! Unless you make James and Sirius _stop_, I will tell everyone your secret."

"Okay, okay," he agreed desperately. "I will."

"All right, then." Lily smiled sweetly and walked past him up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **This chapter's sort of filler, but I got the idea in my head and thought it was really cute. =) I tried not to be too out of character, but I'm not sure if I succeeded..

**Chapter Two**

Remus was curled up in his bed, his hands beside his head on the pillow. As Sirius approached him, he noted that Moony looked quite like a puppy and not at all like a big, nasty wolf.

"Moony," said Sirius. Then louder, "Moony!"

There was no response.

"Remmie… Remmie, wake up!"

Still nothing.

Sirius grabbed his friend's shoulder and shook him violently. "Remus! Come on!"

Lupin yawned, but made no effort to move.

"Ickle Remmiekins, wakey wakey," Sirius smirked.

Remus's hand shot out from its resting spot on the pillow, striking Sirius in the stomach. "Go away."

"Uh-uh," said Sirius. "I'm here to wake you up. We've got a big day in Hogsmeade ahead of us and James and Peter are waiting."

Remus felt his own stomach lurch when he remembered his talk with Lily yesterday and what he was supposed to say to James. "No," he said, his voice muffled by the pillow. "I don't want to go."

"Yes, you do, stupid, you're just tired. Now I didn't want to have to go to such extreme measures as this, but if I must…" And with that, Sirius began tickling poor Remus mercilessly.

"No!" he gasped between giggles, jerking involuntarily. "Stop – stop – Pad – foot – no!" Disturbed by all his movement, something large and heavy then fell out of the bed, creating a loud noise that made Lupin shoot up and hit his head on the top of the four-poster bed.

Sirius bent down and picked it up. "Aha! So here's the reason you're so tired. You were up late _reading_. Figures." He inspected the cover of the book he had just retrieved. "Why were you reading about Animagi when we've been studying them for the past - oh, how long has it been? - _three years?_"

"But we were figuring out the procedure needed to become one," argued Remus, as he climbed out of bed and pulled off his pajama shirt, "while that book is about the history of them."

Sirius rolled his eyes as he flipped through the volume. "Whatever. And a chocolate bar for a bookmark. How inventive."

Remus smiled sheepishly.

Sirius shook his head. "What is up with you and chocolate? Honestly."

"I like chocolate!" said Lupin defensively, digging through his trunk to find some clothes. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Whatever you say." Bringing the candy bar with him, Sirius headed for the door. "Hurry up. We're waiting in the common room for you."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:: James is, like, evil in this, but that's always how I sort of pictured him, so yeah... And Lupin is a coward. Honestly I don't think I'm getting the characters right, but it was fun to write... :]**

**Chapter Three**

Remus took a deep breath as he descended the stairs to the common room. He had to keep his promise to Lily, or else she would… but he didn't even want to think about that. He just knew that, somehow, he'd have to convince James and the others to stop being so terrible to Snivellus… but how? He had no idea.

"Finally!" exclaimed James, jumping up as Remus entered the room. "What were you _doing_ up there?"

"Sleeping, until _he_ found me," said Remus, jerking his head toward Sirius, who was still munching on the chocolate bar contentedly.

"Well, let's go, let's go!" Peter said in an animated tone

And so they set off to Hogsmeade, Peter in the front scurrying to get there, followed by James, and Remus and Sirius walked side-by-side behind both of them."Hey, Evans!" called James haughtily, throwing her a charming grin. Remus looked up, startled, at the mention of Lily, and found she was walking on the opposite side of the street with a group of her friends.

"Shove it, Potter," responded Lily, a snide expression on her face.

James shrugged and turned away to say something to Peter.

Lily then noticed Remus, who was looking quite apprehensive, and winked at him before walking away.

Remus felt like he was going to be sick.

"What was _that_?" said Sirius, astounded. "Did Evans just wink at you?"

"No, why would she?" said Remus irritably.

"I dunno, mate. But you're lucky James didn't see that – he'd kill you!"

"She probably just had something in her eye," mumbled Remus dismissively.

The outing wasn't actually so bad. Remus was pleased to see that Sirius and James decided not to visit Zonko's Joke Shop so they wouldn't have any new pranks to try out on Snape. They spent a while in Honeydukes stocking up on candy, though, which was quite enjoyable. And, as always, they hurried past the Shrieking Shack innocently, ignoring everyone who was gaping at it. It was on their way back to the castle that an unsettling event took place.

"Hey, look, it's Snivellus!" hollered Sirius, laughing, and Remus's hopes of making it back to the school peacefully were destroyed as he caught sight of Snape.

"Oy! Snivelly, what are you up to?" called James, and Snape barely had a chance to react before he shouted, "_Expelliarmus_!" and Snape's wand landed by James's feet.

A crowd was starting to form around them. Remus started to shiver slightly in his nervousness, but no one noticed. They were focused on the scene evolving in front of them.

"One of these days, I'll…" muttered Snape viciously, his fists clenched.

Remus suddenly spotted Lily's red hair in the group of people. She was staring straight at him.

"You'll what, Snivelly?" asked Sirius.

"Wash your hair?" said James. "Here, let me do it for you. _Aguamenti_!" A powerful jet of water shot from the end of the wand, hitting Snape in the face.

Remus swallowed and looked away from Lily. He had to this. Now.

"STOP!" he bellowed in loud voice he barely ever used, and stepped out from behind James and Sirius. "Will you _stop it_?"

But inside, he was feeling no where near as brave as his voice suggested. Wide-eyed, he watched as James stopped the spell in his astonishment and his three best friends turned to him with confused looks. Not only them, but the whole crowd of people was watching him. Remus felt as if he might faint.

He took a deep, quavering breath, and spoke much more quietly this time, and only the people nearby could hear. "He never did anything to you."

Sirius tipped his head to one side. "What's wrong with _you_, Remus?"

"I think-" He looked away from Sirius and found Lily smiling encouragingly at him. "I just think that maybe it's about time we stopped… doing this."

"Why?" snickered James.

"It's not funny!" shouted Remus. "It's horrible!"

"_I_ think it's funny," Peter stated.

"Well, it's not! You're being so mean to the guy, but you don't even know him!"

"If you want to be friends with some loser Slytherin instead of us, go right ahead," said James. "Come on, guys." He started walking away, Peter close behind him.

Sirius hesitated. "I'll talk to him," he told Remus. "I don't know what's going on with you, but you know James would never actually risk our friendship for some silly little-"

"_Padfoot_! Are you coming?"

Sirius gave one last apologetic smile and hurried off to join James and Peter, leaving Remus standing there alone. He couldn't believe that just happened. What had he _done_?

Snape hurried forward and retrieved his wand. "I-" he hesitated, looking at Remus. "I don't know why you did that, but thank you."

"I don't want your thanks," snapped Remus, and he turned away, only to be stopped by Lily.

"That was great!" she said brightly. "Perfect! I've got to admit, I didn't know if you had the strength to do it, but you sure did. That'll show them."

Remus stared at her. He could feel his eyes filling up with tears and quickly wiped them away, not wanting to cry in front of a girl. "They hate me now," he said in a small voice.

"They'll get over it," said Lily, waving her hand dismissively.

He shook his head. "And your plan didn't even work, Lily! You think they're going to stop now? Just because of me? They won't! James'll probably start hexing me, too, for all I've done! Do you see what you made me do?" And with that, he started running back to the castle, not knowing where to go once he was inside.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: This is sort of another filler chapter, but like the last one, I thought it was too cute to resist. =3 I don't ship slash Remus and Sirius, though. This is just, like, friendship on steroids.

**Chapter Four**

"Wow," said Lily as she sat down next to Remus during dinner that night in the Great Hall. "You were right."

"What?" he said, startled that someone was finally speaking to him.

She jerked her head toward the other Marauders, who were seated down the other end of the table. "They really do seem to hate you."

"Gee, thanks," said Remus, stabbing his uneaten baked potato with a fork.

"Aw, Rem, don't worry," Lily said, forgetting her attempt to be funny. "They'll come around soon. I'm always doing horrible stuff to James, but he never quits trying to talk to _me_."

"That's because he's madly in love with you."

She scowled. "Ah, well. What I'm trying to say is that they'll be running back to you in no time, you just wait."

--

After dinner, Remus wandered the halls of the school as late as was allowed, and then nervously worked his way back to the Gryffindor common room. When he climbed through the portrait hole, however, he found the room empty and relaxed, flopping into an armchair. He had decided to not go upstairs to the dormitory that night, to avoid the others. And so he stayed where he was, gazing at the fireplace flicker.

Back when he went to Muggle school, Remus had never had very many friends. The other kids had teased him, either for his scars, his clothes, his small size – take your pick. But when he arrived at Hogwarts, suddenly he had three great friends, just like magic. Sirius… Peter… James… they had done everything together. Remus couldn't remember a single fight happening between them. (Well, at least not one he was involved in - James and Sirius did argue now and then.) But now he didn't know what to do with himself. He had no one to talk to, nothing to do… Perhaps he could apologize, say he had been stupid before, but he really _did_ believe what they did to Snape was wrong, and anyways, what if Lily found out? Was she still blackmailing him?

Remus sighed, curling up in the chair and resting his head of the arm of it at an angle at which he could still see the fireplace. He felt his eyelids grow heavy as he stared into the flames, and yet he couldn't fall asleep. There was too much to think about…

Suddenly hearing a noise in the shadows, Remus jumped, his hand reaching instinctively into the pocket that held his wand as he peered into the darkness.

"Chill," came a familiar voice. "It's just me."

Sirius, carrying an extremely large mound of blankets, came into view in the firelight. He dropped half of the pile on top of Remus and carried the rest to the closest chair, climbing into it.

"I waited until everybody else was asleep, then came to find you. I figured you'd be down here," he said.

"Yeah," said Remus sheepishly, emerging from under the blankets. "I'm a chicken. I know."

"Just a little bit," grinned Sirius. He paused. "I tried to talk to James about you. He's convinced that you've gone completely crazy and doesn't want anything to do with you anymore." Seeing the miserable look on his friend's face, he hastily added, "But he'll get over it."

"'Course he will," mumbled Remus, unconvinced, and after a moment burst out, "Sirius, what if he never does? What am I gonna do without you guys? Who's going to- to copy my homework?"

"Me," said Sirius reassuringly.

"And play chess with me?"

"I can do that."

"And tell me I read too much?"

"I _already_ do that."

"And pass notes with me?"

"I will."

"And steal my candy?"

"That, too."

"And what about the full moon?"

"I'll be there."

Remus slumped down into a more comfortable position, relaxing now that his questions had been answered. "Thanks," he said in a small voice.

Sirius smiled, though it went unnoticed in the darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: OMG SIRIUSLY AN UPDATE?!?! Yeah, I know it's been forever. But my friend was bugging me to finish this, sooo I'm going to. Either one or two more chapters after this one, guys!

--

The next day, the four Marauders had Potions together, during which Professor Slughorn decided it would be quite a nice change to have the students all work with a partner. He then began assigning who would work with whom. Remus received Peter as a partner, and dragged his things over to the table Peter was at.

"Hullo, Pete," he said as he began reading the instructions for making a Befuddlement Draught, their assignment.

Peter's eyes shifted over to Remus, but he didn't say anything.

Remus groaned. "Are you seriously not even going to talk to me?"

Scrunching his eyebrows together, Peter replied, "Not after what you did!"

"I didn't do anything! Come on, I know you wouldn't be doing this if James wasn't!" He looked away angrily and grabbed a knife and some lovage from the table, beginning to cut it up for the potion.

"I would, too!" argued Peter. "How could you take Snivellus's side after- after everything…?"

Remus chopped the lovage more fiercely, accidentally cutting his finger. He clasped his other hand around it and looked up. "I didn't _take his side_, Peter!"

"Well, it sure looked like you did!" Peter was getting red in the face now.

Remus had opened his mouth, about to retort, when he noticed how unusually quiet it was in the room and glanced around. Every student in the room was watching him and Peter, whose argument was apparently very clamorous.

He felt his face flush, then loudly asked, "What?" and everyone turned back to their potions, including himself and Peter, who finished in silence.

--

That night, Remus felt he'd better not go to the dormitory, in order to avoid any more confrontation. He fell into the same armchair he had slept in the evening before, closing his eyes. Maybe half an hour later, Sirius appeared again, carrying more blankets, and Remus felt himself smile.

"Did they ask you this morning where you had been?" he asked, as Sirius settled into a chair.

"Nope," Sirius replied. "I got there before they woke up. They've got no idea I'm… fraternizing with the enemy."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Ha ha." There was a pause, and then he nestled further into the blankets and said, "Sirius, I really want to- to thank you for being-"

"Wait, wait," Sirius interrupted, shaking his head. "Don't get all sappy on me here, Moony. I just ate."

"No," protested Remus. "I'm serious."

"Actually, _I_ am."

Remus took a deep breath. "Will you… just… shush?" There was no response. "Good. I wanted to thank you. Because you don't have to do this – to be nice to me and everything. But you still are. So thanks for not leaving me alone, Pads. It's really… appreciated."

When Sirius didn't say anything, Remus looked over at him. A snore issued from his armchair, and Remus sighed. "Figures."


	6. Chapter 6

During the subsequent days, the same routine continued. Remus was getting rather tired of sleeping in a chair, and he imagined Sirius was as well. A more pressing issue was the fact that the full moon was approaching quickly. Although he had always spend it alone during the first few years of school, Remus was not looking forward to doing that again.

**But I'll come with you!** Sirius wrote in a note during History of Magic the day of the full moon.

_Not without the Invisibility Clock, you won't, _responded Remus.

**So I'll just take it.**

_James will notice._

**Will not.**

_Will too. _

**Will not.**

_He will! And I don't want him to get even madder! So don't!_

**Fine. Then I'll just go without it, who cares?**

_No way. You're not going and getting in trouble for my sake._

**I don't care, I need a bit of fun!**

_No! No, please don't._

**Well maybe if I talked to James again, he'd go. Then we'd have the cloak.**

_I'll talk to him. I'm the one with the problem here, not you._

And so he did. In the common room that afternoon, he walked over to where James, Sirius, and Peter were gathered.

"What do _you_ want?" asked James.

Remus's eyebrows drew together, but he spoke in a gentle voice. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I wanted to explain-"

"To explain why you turned into a traitor and suddenly became friends with a rotten Slytherin?"

"I'm… not… friends," Remus shook his head. "Yes, that. It's not exactly what you think. Really, I-"

James cut him off. "Really, you _didn't_ ruin our reputation in front of the whole school?"

"I- I didn't- The _reason _that I did it was because-"

"Because you're too much of a coward to handle poking a little fun at a creep who deserves it?"

Remus spoke loudly over the interruptions. "Because Lily said-"

James raised an eyebrow. "Lily? My Lily? Since when do you talk to her?"

"_Your_ Lily?" scoffed Remus, temporarily distracted. "I don't see what makes her _your_ Lily. And I've always talked to her; we're_ friends_."

"Well, that's good for you, then," James said coolly. "Because you've lost three of your other friends, so you've got to have someone to hang around with."

"Well- well, I do," sputtered Remus. "So that's fine."

"Fine."

"Fine." Turning on his heel, Remus stomped out of common room and through the portrait hole, with only the prospect of a dreadful evening accompanying him.


	7. Chapter 7

Remus stood in the Shrieking Shack, alone, waiting. Sometimes it felt like the waiting was the worst part, just anticipating what was coming. Of course, recently it hadn't been as bad because he'd been with friends. And when he was with them, he was more himself. The monster didn't take _complete_ control. Less Moony, more Remus.

The floorboards creaked as he paced across the floor.

It wouldn't be like that this time, though. No, tonight he was deserted. The first time he'd been alone during a transformation in a long while.

A noise issued from somewhere nearby, and he stopped walking, alert. It became clear then that the noise was a voice, coming from the opening of the tunnel, and Remus began panicking. No one could be here! Not now! He'd have to get them out before it happened!

He raced over to the opening and cried, "Who's there?"

A familiar face appeared at the opening, complete with scruffy black hair and impish grey eyes. "Hey, Moony," said Sirius cheerfully as he climbed inside.

A wave of relief passed over Remus, but it was quickly replaced by anger. "I told you not to come without the cloak! What if someone caught you?"

Sirius cocked his head. "I didn't come without the cloak."

"Well-" Remus looked around. "Well, where is it?"

"James has it," replied Sirius casually, examining his fingernails.

"James?" He shook his head, confused. "But I thought you just said you brought it."

Sirius looked up and rolled his eyes. "I did, you dolt! James is here! And Wormy, too, the whole happy family!"

Remus's eyes widened and he looked over at the tunnel entrance, where James was climbing inside. "You're here!"

"'Course I'm here," said James as Peter, too, climbed into the room. "I wouldn't miss a full moon."

"But- but-" stuttered Remus. "Aren't you… mad?"

"Not now that Padfoot explained everything," James said. "I never would've thought that Lily would do that. Blackmail, honestly! Such a sweet girl, but she's powerful, too."

Remus blinked, gaping at him.

"But, you know, you could have just told me, Moony," continued James.

"I _tried_ to…" he mumbled.

"Oh." James winced. "Sorry, I guess I was just… you know."

"Being James," Sirius offered.

"Sure," James rolled his eyes. "Anyway, It all makes perfect sense why you said all that now, Rem."

"I really do believe it, though!" Remus declared. "I think we should stop being so awful to Snape."

James looked at him stiffly.

"_Some_ of the time," compromised Sirius.

"Fine," said James and Remus at the same time, and then they grinned at each other.

A crisp wind whined outside. In a few minutes, Remus's transformation occurred, but the night was nowhere near as dreadful as he had been imagining. After all, friends make everything better. And now all of his friends were with him, right where they belonged.

----

**AN: **Okay, two things: Uno, I knowwww I didn't mention Remus telling Sirius about the blackmail and whatnot, but he did. And I should've said that. But I didn't. He did the first night. Okay? Okay. And dos, yes, it was an extremely cheesy ending. Sorry if it disappointed you, but I couldn't think of much else. ^^; Anyway, if you read the whole thing, thanks and I hope you enjoyed! =]


End file.
